Suchergebnisse

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) exemplify the enduring commitment and potential of the United Nations to serve as a catalyst for collective action in the cause of equitable and all round development of all nations and peoples. Indeed, the restructuring of the development apparatus as an important element of the larger challenge of the UN reform has acquired greater urgency in view of the manifest need to push for timely implementation of MDGs. Strengthening the role of the Economic and Social Council is a tricky issue that apparently puts the industrially advanced countries and the developing countries in opposite camps. Among the issues on which both the European developed and the Asian developing countries have showed interest, the idea of air ticket levy for raising resources for development is worthy of being pursued vigorously as part of the UN reform negotiations. Likewise, there is more than sufficient potential for old European Union countries like Germany and fast developing countries like China to bridge gaps in their policy objectives and work as partners in strengthening the multilateral mechanism dedicated to development purposes.

Using a common methodology, the effects of unions on wage levels and wage dispersion are estimated for two neighboring countries, Bolivia and Chile, and for the U.S. The analysis shows that unions have broadly similar effects on the wage distribution within these three economies. The findings suggest that the political economy of unions, coupled with market constraints on labor costs, produce commonality in union wage effects that transcend other economic and institutional differences.

Based on 30 interviews with ECI actors and a two-year participant observation of two Belgian initiative comittees, this paper will describe how a comprehensive analysis of participatory practices steming out of ECI can point out an evolution of the citizens' relation to citizen participation. To be taken into account, an ECI must gather a million online signatures from at least a quarter of the member states. Success relies on its promoters' capacity to lead an online campaign throughout the Union : it implies a transformation of political activism that is traditionnaly carried out by activist organisations. With no surprise, intensive use of online social media and other web technologies accentuates practices of people who are already involved in participatory activities (normalisation and reinforcement theory). However, we observe that there is more and more space for cooperative networking (shared web-based platform, mailing list), and that setting up community association networks – and securing their geographical distribution – is made easier. A widening of the actors involved is alo a part of this transformation : ECI's promoters remain the « usual suspects » when it comes to European participation (as members of organisations) but – to gather a million signatures – they have to target people that turn to be even more « ordinary » citizens than in any other participatory european mechanisms (mobilisation theory). By doing so, they allow some « general public » European debates (water as a human right, universal basic income) to infiltrate.

In the article, we attempt to assess the investment attractiveness of the New EU Member States, using the Visegrad Group countries as examples. This study is structured as follows: First, it explores the existing literature on factors of investment attractiveness. Further we examine inward foreign direct investment flows in the Visegrad Group countries against the global performance in the area from 1990 to 2013. Next we discuss the investment attractiveness of New Member States of the European Union in selected international rankings, paying special attention to the positions occupied by the four analysed countries. The final part examines the correlation between selected variables characteristic of investment attractiveness and the inflow of foreign investment. The study is based on statistical methods (Spearman's rank correlation and Pearson correlation). At the end we present our conclusions. ; W artykule podjęto próbę oceny atrakcyjności inwestycyjnej państw Grupy Wyszehradzkiej. Praca składa się z czterech części. W pierwszej dokonano przeglądu literatury ze szczególnym naciskiem na badania empiryczne dotyczące atrakcyjności inwestycyjnej. Następnie przeanalizowano napływ zagranicznych inwestycji bezpośrednich do krajów Grupy Wyszehradzkiej na tle świata w latach 1990–2013. W kolejnej części omówiono atrakcyjność inwestycyjną nowych państw członkowskich UE w wybranych rankingach międzynarodowych, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem miejsca, jakie zajmują w nich Polska, Czechy, Węgry i Słowacja. W ostatniej części zbadano zależności pomiędzy wybranymi zmiennymi określającymi atrakcyjność inwestycyjną a napływem BIZ. W badaniu wykorzystano metody statystyczne (współczynnik korelacji Pearsona oraz współczynnik korelacji rang Spearmana). Artykuł kończy podsumowanie.

[full article and abstract in Lithuanian; abstract in English] The article analyses the character of the targeted financial sanctions as imposed by the United Nations and the European Union. The article portrays that United Nations and European Union institutions, the Court of Justice of the European Union and part of the scholars do not recognize the criminal character of the measures currently, and arguargues that in the context of the international human rights law these measures shall be considered of the criminal character. Summary The article analyses whether targeted financial sanctions as imposed by the United Nations and the European Union shallbe considered of criminal character. The article portrays that United Nations and European Union institutions, the Courtof Justice of the European Union and part of the scholars do not recognize the criminal character of the measures. Thearticle argues this position cannot be considered as well-grounded and that the measures, as being imposed for seriousoffences and causing very serious indefinite long-term effects on subject's life and activities, on the scope of fundamentalrights and freedoms, shall be considered of criminal character. ; [straipsnis ir santrauka lietuvių kalba; santrauka anglų kalba] Šiame straipsnyje yra vertinamas Jungtinių Tautų ir Europos Sąjungos nustatomų individualizuotų finansinių ribojančių priemonių pobūdis. Straipsnyje atskleidžiama, kad šiuo metu Jungtinių Tautų ir Europos Sąjungos institucijos, Europos Sąjungos Teisingumo Teismas ir dalis mokslininkų nepripažįsta baudžiamojo priemoniųpobūdžio, ir ginčijama, kad tarptautinės žmogaus teisių teisės kontekste šios priemonės yra vertintinos kaip baudžiamojo pobūdžio priemonės.

Welche Prinzipien, Ideen und Ziele leiten das politische Denken der Europäischen Union? Bildet sich eine eigenständige politische Philosophie der EU heraus? Warum müssen die Wege fragmentierter Wissenschaftsdisziplinen verlassen werden, um das politische Denken der Europäischen Union in seiner Komplexität einzuordnen? Dieser Band stellt innovative Fragen. Sie sind in der politischen Ideengeschichte verankert und mit interdisziplinären Analysen sowie markanten Argumenten zu den Schlüsselfragen der Europäischen Union verbunden. Mithilfe von Infokästen, Fallbeispielen und Schaubildern werden die einzelnen Themen verständlich erörtert. Übungsaufgaben und Literaturverweise ergänzen den systematischen Ansatz. Diese Einführung ist ein inspirierender und weiterführender Impuls für das Studium der Europäischen Union.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a driving force in modern research, industry and public administration and the European Union (EU) is embracing this technology with a view to creating societal, as well as economic, value. This effort has been shared by EU Member States which were all encouraged to develop their own national AI strategies outlining policies and investment levels. This study focuses on how EU Member States are approaching the promise to develop and use AI for the good of society through the lens of their national AI strategies. In particular, we aim to investigate how European countries are investing in AI and to what extent the stated plans contribute to the good of people and society as a whole. Our contribution consists of three parts: (i) a conceptualization of AI for social good highlighting the role of AI policy, in particular, the one put forward by the European Commission (EC); (ii) a qualitative analysis of 15 European national strategies mapping investment plans and suggesting their relation to the social good (iii) a reflection on the current status of investments in socially good AI and possible steps to move forward. Our study suggests that while European national strategies incorporate money allocations in the sphere of AI for social good (e.g. education), there is a broader variety of underestimated actions (e.g. multidisciplinary approach in STEM curricula and dialogue among stakeholders) that can boost the European commitment to sustainable and responsible AI innovation. ; The authors are supported by the project A European AI On Demand Platform and Ecosystem (AI4EU) H2020-ICT-26 #825619. The views expressed in this paper are not necessarily those of the consortium AI4EU. The authors would also thank Sinem Aslan and Chiara Bissolo for their support in the quantitative overview and qualitative analysis respectively. ; Peer Reviewed ; Postprint (published version)

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of fiscal decentralization on the government size in the European Union member states. The Two-Stage Least squares procedure is applied on the panel data for the period 2000-2010. The regression model which is constructed includes the total amount of government tax revenue as a dependent variable. The revenue and expenditure variable for fiscal decentralization are put as main explanatory variables. The empirical results support the theoretical assumptions for the restrictive influence of the revenue decentralization as well as the increasing effect of the expenditure decentralization on the government intrusion into economy measured via the amount of tax revenue.

The article addresses Europeanization of social movements in the context of the European Sovereign Debt Crisis. Europeanization occurs when movements collaborate, or make horizontal communicative linkages with movements in other countries, contest authorities beyond the state, frame issues as European and claim a European identity. The article presents a theoretical framework and research design for measuring the degree of social movement Europeanization followed by results of a pilot study on mobilization in Spain and Greece during 2011. While many contentious action events studied only encompassed the domestic arena, the pilot study showed a relatively high degree of Europeanization in the Greek case, suggesting the viability of future research.El presente artículo aborda la europeización de los movimientos sociales en el contexto de la crisis de la deuda soberana europea. La europeización se produce cuando los movimientos colaboran, o establecen vínculos horizontales, con movimientos de otros países, contestan a las autoridades más allá de los límites del Estado-nación, identifican cuestiones como europeos y reclaman una identidad europea. El artículo presenta un marco teórico y un diseño investigación para medir el grado de europeización de los movimientos sociales seguido por los resultados de un estudio piloto de la movilización en España y Grecia durante el año 2011. Mientras que muchas de las acciones de protesta estudiadas solamente apelaban al ámbito doméstico, el estudio piloto muestra un relativamente alto grado de europeización en el caso griego, lo que sugiere la viabilidad de futuras investigaciones.

Contemplates the possibility of Russian-European cooperation in the form of joint theater missile defense (TMD) as well as whether such cooperation might jumpstart the Russian defense industry. The impact of the US in terms of its own programs & its cooperation with Europe on any such Russian-European partnership is noted. The influence of Russian domestic politics on a cooperative TMD is considered, finding divergent motives among proponents & no cohesive view in Russian relations with Europe & the US. NATO & defense industrial ties in missile defense between Europe & the US are then articulated. The need for an industrial basis to a Russian-European political partnership is illuminated via an examination of a joint US-German-Italian medium-range air defense system, providing five observations on potential problematic areas arising from overlapping & sometimes conflicting strategic, political, & economic interests. A Russian-European TMD is seen as a long-term prospect, hinging largely on the political arena, with little short- & medium-term benefit for Russia's defense industry. J. Zendejas